Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-12-23
From the Workman
The Christians Style Of Giving.
BY REV. p. RIFFER

Oiuei W uidhe al oncfluS luSu IL II
really givirg, aud such giving e:
the Lord desires. We are too selfish
and do not take sufficient interest il
the Church's work. We give fo'
everything else, but we do not give
enough for benevolence The farmer
looks about for investments. Ht
hears of farms for sale, or some new
ly imported stock and he goes anC
buys. He also hears of some impor
tant mission field, that has lately
been iml or;ed or organized, whatever
you may call it. But that too otter
gets the nickle whilst the other gets
the hundreds. The unbeliever was
not very fur off the mark when be
said to the Christian: IF | believed
half you profess to believe, in place o.
giving one hundred dollars for thai
Durham cow and five dollars to the
Church, | would give five dollars for
the COW and the one hundred to the
Loid."
When we give, we must give will
ingly. For the Apostle say; Every
man according as be purposeth in Dis
heart, so let him give;not grudq5ngly,
or Of necessity for God loueh a
cheerful queer" We must give as il
We had an interest in the cause; as il
we meant what we prayed for in the
petition, "Thy kingdom come" We
can help the coming of that kingdom,
by giving of our means for it's exten.
sion and building up of the Church.
Now the Church has done some
thing to this end but has not done
what she could. 1t is because she
does not appear TO feel that it is her
duty to bring every one within the
fold, and that in order TO do this there
must be- men and means. But the
Church at large, even if fully awake
to har grand mission, cannot get the
money il people keep that money in
their pockets. What we need is a
turning of men's pockets inside out to
relieve them of that lucre which binds
so many here to the altar of Mammon?
Yea, teaching of them to lay up
their treasures where thieves do not
break through nor steal.
But in Christian giving there
should be systematic way of doing
things. The Apostle commends such
p an to the early Christian Church,
when he says, Upon the first day Of
the week let every one of you lay by
him in store, as God hath prospered
him that there be no gatherings when
| come" Every one of you," says
the Apostle, even those in limited
circumstances are to do something
By proper system there will be
much more gathered. than if we give
once for all. God does not shower
his blessings on US all at once. but
they are scattered all along our path
way. He does not give US bread in
one year to do US ten, but each day
comes regular supply. The rain
does not all fall in one month and
then cease for the rest of the year, tor
we all know that is not good; but it
comes in regular showers end thus re-
froshes the earth and droopiDg vegeta-
ton. Therefore to bring about a
system. good system, organizations,
wherever they can be had, are a
good thing. Aid societies, working
associations, Foreign and Home Mis-.
siou Leagues should be organized.
And these meeting monthly. or semi
monthly. or weekly, as is best, would
do a wonderful work for the Church
Suppose the Pittsburg Synod, with
her eighteen thousand communicates
would form such society, orjust lay
by ten cents per member each week,
it would make in one week one thous-
and eight hundred dollars, and in
fifty-two weeks it would reach the
enormous sum of ninety-three thous-
and six hundred dollars Or if we
only gave that much cash each week
for all Church work outside of the
pastors salary, we would have the
large sum of fifty thousand dollars
for the Church's work at large, and
forty-three thousand six hundred dol.
lars for local expenses. Or. for the
six different objects which we have on
our parochial reports, namely the
Work of the Synod, General Council
Home Mission Fund, Foreign Mis-
sions, Orphan Work, Thiel College
and other Objects of Benevolence. we
would have eight thousand three hun.
dred and thirty-three dollars and
thirty.three cents and some fraction
ola cent for each object.
There is evidently something
wrong. Let us see where it is
There is no system, no regular plan o.
doing things For example, here is 9
congregation which reports five hun
dred members. and comes to the Synod
with SITS 25 for ell objects, or, not one
cent per member per week. Now lei
US figure again? Suppose each mem
ber gives one cent per week for the
Synod's work, which is as low as we
dare to put it,it would make fifty-two
cents per year pc member, the Is, COO
communicates would pay into oul
treasury S9,360,in place OF Sits 90
as reported in the last minutes. We
know people are always slow to adopt
a new plan, especially when it come;
to giving, but system is good and
these organizations that teach sys
tematic giving are worthy of al
praise.
An inveterate smoker gives moi
less than ten cents week for his oi
gars, or FIVE dollars and twenty cents
o year, just what we figured on tt
bring ninety-three thousand, six hun
dred dollars into the Church's treasu
ry. The man never misses his tel
cents per week for his own enjoy
ment. but it does appear that he cal
culdtes very closely when it comes u
giving to the Church. The Chris
tain is to give Give willingly. This
Apostle says, "He who soweth spar
ing!y shall reap also spa.ingly; ant
lie which soweth bountifully shal
reap also beautifully
"Give, give willingly give.
since God hath given to thee,
SO many rich tokens of his love,
So bounteousIy ana so free,
Gtye give; gta,'t better 10 give than Tceeive.